Improved railway-car brake



W. G. FOSTER.

Car Brake.

' Patented Feb. 1,1870.

m-m e 5 dished sate WILLIAM FOSTER, OF'APALAOHIN, NEW YORK.

Letters Patent N0.'Sl9,424, dated February 1, 1870.

IMPROVED RAILWAY-CAR BRAKE.

The Schedule referred toin these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

-To all whom it may concern l Be it known that I, WILLIAM G. Fos'rnn, ofApalachin, in the county of Tioga, and State of New York, have inventednew and useful Improvements in Car- Brakes; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clea-r, and exact description thereof, whichwill enable others' skilled in the art to make and use the same,reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification.

Figure l is auend view of thecar D.

Figure 2 is a bottom view of the car 1), showing the ii'iction portions,and vibrating bevel-pinion.

Figure 3 is an end View of the car D.

Figure 4 is a section of the two cars coupled, the section being takenthrough the line x x of fig. 5.

Figure 5 is a bottom 'view of the cars D D.

. Similar-letters of reference indicate corresponding parts. f g

The nature of this invention relates to the braking of a train of cars,by the application of power upon one car of the train.

It consists in certain devices for operating the braking-mechanism ofeach car, consisting of a spring and chain,in combination with anotherspring, and in connection with a shaft, upon which said chain is'wound,

and a lever, whiclris operated by said springs; also,

in the arrangement of two bevel-pinions, one of which works in asemicircular frame attached to the truckframe, and the other is securedto a longitudinal shaft under the centre of the car.

In the drawings D I) are platform cars, taken to represent an two carsof a train.

A A, 860., are the trucks, and E E, &c the wheels thereof, keyed onaxles F F, &c., all of the usual construction.

The brakes G are connected, by brake-bars H, in the usual manner.

Each pair of brakes of the same car are connected with each other, bymeans of rods d d, and a brakelever, c, the said rods being attached tothe brake-bars H, and the brake-lever, as shown at fig. 4.

The upper end of the brake-lever is connected with shown, the'pinion I)being secured to the shaft B, by set-screws, for the purpose of morereadily adjusting the brakes to their bearings, as shown.

The connecting-l'leads J O, of the shafts B'B'of each car, areselicoupling, operating on the principle of an universal-joint, as thatshown at J and C, so that the shaft 13 of the car D will actnatethcbrakes of all the other cars of the train, by means of the bevel-pinionsa and I), the shaft 1, chain g, springs h 7t, and brakelever e of eachcar, which said mechanism is operated by theshaft B, as aforesaid.

The bevel-gearing of the car D differs from thatof the other cars, bythe movable character of the shaft of the pinion,'and the arrangement ofthe axes of both pinions, the said axes both being horizontal.

These pinions are lettered a l). The pinion I) is keyed on the shaft B,but the pinion a, with whichit engages, is provided with reduced 'ends,one of which has a bearing in the vertical end of the'plate K, aiiixcdto the truck, as shown.-

The other end of the pinion has a bearing "in the lower-end of thehand-lever 1, shown dot-ted, whereby the said pinion may be moved, onits inner bearing, as a centre, thus bringing the friction-pinion m,which is affixed to or forms part of the bevel-pinion a, as shown, incontact with the'fiiction-piuion n, on the axle F of the truck, asshown.

A slotted plate, 0, having a slot, '0', (see fig. 2,) serves as a guidefor the reduced end of the pinion a, for the said reduced end passesthrough this slot before entering the bearing in the lever l. The plate0 is afiixed to the truck, as shown. v

The pinion a has suflicicnt lateral vibration in its inner bearing, inthe plate K, to allow it to be brought in or from contact with thefriction-pinion it, without any special formation of the said innerhearing; but,

in practice, a spherical hearing may be substituted for the one shownfinorder to obtain a more'correct mechanical operation, if desired.

The brakes are held in contact with the wheel by means of the ratchetand pawl-device, shown at 1, q, and 1'. g

In operating these brakes, the lever Z is thrown forward, which bringsthe friction-pinions m n in contact, and motion is thus communicated tothe shafting B B of the train; and the'pinions a being rcvolverh'thechains g are wound, which actnatcs the brakelevers B to bring thebrake-blocks G upon the wheels, therebystopping the train.

In practicc, tho hand-lever, and the pinious a b, andfl'lCtlUll-PllllOl'l, may be placcdnndcr the tender.

These improvements can be applied to the cars already in use, withoutaltering the construction of them.

1 claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters each of said parts isconstructed, and all are arranged Patentto operate as and for thepurpose set forth.

1. The spring 72 and chain g, in combination with The abovespecification of my invention signed by the spring 71, when constructedsubstantially as deme, this 11th day of January, 1868. scribed, andoperating, in connection with the shaft f \VILLIAM G. FOSTER. and leverE, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The bevel-pinion a, working in the semicircular frames attached tothe truck-frame, and the bevelpinion 11, secured to the longitudinalshaft B, when Witnesses:

J AMES HOLMES, J OHN HoLMns.

